Week 2: Proof of Concept and Game Background

This week, we worked on the plot, environment, character designs and level designs of the game in preparation for the Design Document and presentation. 

During the second game jam last week, we experimented with the core mechanic of having a monster that moves when the player is not looking at it and got it working, shown in the Proof of Concept Tech demo. We also implemented some aspects of collecting objects and player movement. With this completed, we were confident about the core game mechanic.

We met during the week to discuss the premise of the game. We decided that the game was going to be set in a museum, with the main player character being a tomb robber who stole things from a tomb and sold them to the museum, which caused the spirit who was trapped in the tomb to haunt the museum and kill people there. The player then needs to collect items that belong to the monster which are scattered around the museum in the different levels/rooms and bring them to the final stage which is a tomb exhibit where the spirit lies.

The monster may take different forms in different levels depending on the surrounding, but the general inspiration comes from a mummy. 

After some brainstorming, in the next meeting we decided on the level designs. We were torn between having realistic museum rooms with objects scattered about or having mazes that feel more like obstacle courses, and in the end we decided to integrate the mazes into the museum rooms and build maze walls with shelves or statues, which make some sense in a museum setting and also add an interesting element with the mazes instead of having open rooms. 

We came up with four levels, which are the gift shop, the museum archives, the statue exhibit and painting exhibit where the player must collect objects such as jewelry, pieces of a staff, canopic jars and pieces of a painting. In each of the levels, the player would initially be given the name and shape outline of what they need to collect, and after they collect everything, the monster would be enraged and its movement condition would flip. It would teleport behind the player and follow the player until they leave the room, during which the player cannot turn and look at it.

For other game mechanics, we decided to incorporate a flashlight which the player must find batteries for to use. Without the flash light, the environment would be much darker to add difficulty to finding the objects. We also decided to leave the idea of collecting pieces of a mirror to make a useable mirror to reflect and look at the monster for now since after some experimentation in Unity it seemed very complex for a small feature.

For the following week, we will flesh out the game mechanics, make 3d proportionate models of the levels and complete the design document with this information.